Eu Jung Cahill Che, writing in the Japan Times in 2001, said that Tuvalu will be the first casualty of climate change. Over a decade later we are living on borrowed time and require urgent action for our survival. Tuvalu is a small island nation, with a population of around 11,000 people and landmass of 27 square kilometres. The highest point on the island is less than four meters above sea level. Tuvalu is without mountains and without rivers. Rainwater harvesting is our main source of water. Along with Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, we are the most vulnerable of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Climate change, for Tuvaluans, is one of the greatest challenges of our time because will greatly disturb our normal way of life. Our people continue to experience the dramatic effects of climate change on our islands. Our traditional root crops, such as pulaka and taro, are gradually dying because of sea water intrusion and frequent droughts. Fish poisoning has become a major issue, due to increased temperature and acidification of sea-water. King tides, combined with strong winds, make things much worse. We do not need any scientific explanation to tell us that we have a problem. We are losing our lands to the sea as a result of soil erosion, and land defines who we are. Our culture, our life, our heritage, and our language are all rooted in the land. However, I am afraid that Tuvaluans will likely lose our lands to the sea in the future if nothing is done. Losing our land literally means life becomes meaningless to us. We need to preserve our islands, so that we still have a place to refer to as our home in the future. Climate change related sea level rise has become a very complex issue for a small island nation like Tuvalu. It has a lot to do with human rights, our right to live, our right to exist as a nation and our right to exist as Tuvaluans on our own islands. Therefore, for many Tuvaluans, resorting to migration is not an option except as a last resort. Migration does not put a stop to climate change. I am here in Australia with a group of young people from Kiribati and Tuvalu. We are here to do advocacy training, with the hope that we can talk to the government of Australia and the people of Australia. In the past two days, we were able to meet some politicians at parliament house in Canberra. We had a good chance to talk to the opposition members, with our hopes that the more people we share our stories with, the more they will spread. They seemed to be very interested in listening to our stories and our cries. To my great disappointment, we were not able to meet with Tony Abbott’s ministers, they were busy with other commitments. Our hopes lie heavily on the Australian government and the Australian people. We have always considered Australia as our big brother, our neighbouring country to stand up for us. Therefore, we are here to appeal to our big brother to take the lead in climate change actions, by telling other industrialised countries that strong action to reduce greenhouse gases is needed now. I am sure that the people of Australia are not ready to watch Tuvalu, Kiribati and other low lying atolls go underwater for something to which they did not contribute. Australia should be rethinking their climate change policies, because they affect the lives of us in the low-lying atolls. Remember, life and survival is not negotiable. It is a gift. P/s: The first time I can read a paragraph with only two times looking for words in dictionary. :)). A little bit happy...:)) theguardian/commentisfree/2014/may/30/my-home-is-being-swallowed-by-the-sea-will-australia-do-nothing?CMP=fb_gu
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 02:58:00 +0000
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